Our Tbs
- Thread starter JohnL
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patsan
Premium Member
EXCELLENT!!!! I'm sure you're going crazy. Please make sure you take tons of pictures. We don't care if you post pages of them.....we love seeing pictures.
Don't know how long you've been following this thread, but we have some little tips for you. We tell everyone getting their TBS this.
Have a bucket of salt water made, and swish each piece of rock around in it before you put it in your tank. It will clean off some of the silt that comes on the rock. (the rock is very dirty when you get it).
Also, pull off any crabs, urchins and bad critters you might see before you put it in the tank. Keep the crabs in a bowl and show us the pictures to know if it's a good guy or not, if you don't already know. The only crabs you "really" want in the tank are the porcelains. All the others will wind up doing damage down the road.
I'm sure there is more....but I can't think now. I am too excited!
Where is it coming in....JFK?
BrianPlankis
Premium Member
WOW...we are going to get pictures of new TBS rock!!! I'm EXCITED!!!!
:need pics: OK FINE! I can't get the "This thread is worthless without pics" graphic to work.
Brian
:need pics: OK FINE! I can't get the "This thread is worthless without pics" graphic to work.
Brian
patsan
Premium Member
I know....it's been WAY too long.
Now, everyone try and remember any tips we can give jezzeaepi or anyone else for that matter, that's getting new TBS.
Jezz....another thing we suggest is to SMELL each piece of rock. If it smells like butt, there is dead sponge/turkey wing. Remove and dead stuff before you put it in the tank, or else you're ammonia will spike really badly, and you'll have a super rouch cycle.
Make sure you have water made up in case you need to do a water change. If you're ammonia level gets up around 1 or over 1, you need to do a water change ASAP, and may have to do daily water changes until the ammonia levels get down to safe levels.
Bob will be able to help you out with that more than I can. He had a really rough cycle with his first batch of TBS. (his gulf rock)
BrianPlankis
Premium Member
I had a REALLY bad cycle too, my ammonia got up to 8ppm! I was doing daily water changes and when it got up to 8ppm I did two water changes. But most people don't face that, so don't let me alarm you 
Brian
Brian
krajacich
Premium Member
jezzeaepi: Congrats! You have to post TONS of pics. We LOVE pics. My recommendations (in addition to the ones above) are:
1) Have some tarps or towels ready to set the boxes on....sometimes they leak quite a bit
2) Get a Seachem Ammonia Alert....these aren't probably as accurate as an actual test kit, but do let you keep an eye on the tank's ammonia level whenever you walk by the tank
3) Depending on the package size, have someone on hand to help you lift the sand & rock into the tank
4) Enjoy the entire process....you've been waiting a long time to get the rock. Don't get stressed out if you have a rougher cycle (I had a week & a half of water changes with each part). Just think how pretty the tank will look when you get your entire package in there
5) Did I mention take & post lots of pictures
1) Have some tarps or towels ready to set the boxes on....sometimes they leak quite a bit
2) Get a Seachem Ammonia Alert....these aren't probably as accurate as an actual test kit, but do let you keep an eye on the tank's ammonia level whenever you walk by the tank
3) Depending on the package size, have someone on hand to help you lift the sand & rock into the tank
4) Enjoy the entire process....you've been waiting a long time to get the rock. Don't get stressed out if you have a rougher cycle (I had a week & a half of water changes with each part). Just think how pretty the tank will look when you get your entire package in there
5) Did I mention take & post lots of pictures
Hehe, I been waiting so long I had enough time to save up for a nikon d50 =P Should be able to post some nice pics providing I can figure out the light balancing issues. 60mm macro will be showing up the day after the package.
Its a 40 gallon tank, so would a 5g/day water change be good to start with? I say 5 gallon because I only have 5 gallon buckets.
Peace,
Jesse
Its a 40 gallon tank, so would a 5g/day water change be good to start with? I say 5 gallon because I only have 5 gallon buckets.
Peace,
Jesse
BrianPlankis
Premium Member
Jesse,
I would recommend only changing the water if your ammonia gets above 0.5ppm.(That is 0 POINT 5, not 5ppm) You need to let the tank develop its biological filter and if you do water changes every day you will just delay the end of the cycle.
Brian
I would recommend only changing the water if your ammonia gets above 0.5ppm.(That is 0 POINT 5, not 5ppm) You need to let the tank develop its biological filter and if you do water changes every day you will just delay the end of the cycle.
Brian
.5 huh? ok sounds good. How long did it take to recover from your 8ppm amonia spike!?!
How much water did you have to remove from your tank to accomidate your rocks and sand? Currently the tank is completly full. This should be enough to fill up the "swish" bucket right?
When I find dead sponges, how should I go about removing them? How long should I spend examining and sniffing? I know keeping the sponges out of water for even a short time is really bad.
Guess Ill have to show my roomate how to use the camera since my hands will be full =P(although I may be borrowing his nose... Mine doesnt work that well.. im sure hell appreciate that lol)
Peace
How much water did you have to remove from your tank to accomidate your rocks and sand? Currently the tank is completly full. This should be enough to fill up the "swish" bucket right?
When I find dead sponges, how should I go about removing them? How long should I spend examining and sniffing? I know keeping the sponges out of water for even a short time is really bad.
Guess Ill have to show my roomate how to use the camera since my hands will be full =P(although I may be borrowing his nose... Mine doesnt work that well.. im sure hell appreciate that lol)
Peace
patsan
Premium Member
Jesse...if you can, try and get a Brute garbage can(or 2). They sell them at Home Depot. This way, you'll be able to store water in it for when you'll do your water changes, and you won't need to have a bunch of 5g buckets. Because when you make up water in preperation for water changes, you'll need to circulate it (and heat it if necessary) for about 24 hours before the change.
Also, do you have a refractometer? I highly recommend one over a hydrometer.
If you find dead sponge, just scrape it off. You might not even find any. I'm sure Dennis will chime in. He had one piece of rock that didn't smell good and he scraped it well before he put it in the tank.
As far as how long do you sniff it?....you'll know right away if it's good or bad. At least that's what everyone who's had "butt" rock says.
I removed about 15g of water from our 90g tank. I don't remember if I had to add any back once all the rock went in.
That's awesome you have a nice camera to take pictures.
Just keep everything on auto settings until you get more comfortable with the camera. This way, at least all your first pictures will be in focus. The flash will take care of the lighting if there isn't enough in the room while you're unpacking your TBS. Then once you get it in the tank, the tank lights will work sufficently, and you can turn the flash off.
If you want, I can make a copy of the learning DVD I just bought for the Nikon D-50 and mail it to you. If you'd like that, just PM me your address.
BrianPlankis
Premium Member
The 8ppm only lasted 2 days, then it dropped to 4 after two days and was under 1ppm two days later. That is because I found the source of the ammonia. I had a rock with many clams covering it and a small piece of dead sponge sticking out. I tried to remove the piece of dead sponge and it caused a clam to fall off the rock, revealing more dead sponge, then another clam fell off, more sponge, more clams off...more sponge showing...all dead and STINKY. It was the size of a large softball.
I had my 75 full and my 20 sump full as well. I also had another 15 gallons ready to go. I ended up using about 15 gals out of the tank and another 5 gallons from my extra.
I wouldn't spend too much time sniffing, minimize air exposure. I did a quick sniff on each side of my rocks and dunked them in the tank.
If you can QT the rock, at least for a few days, in some other container that would be great. That way all the initial die-off doesn't go into your tank.
Also, don't be too quick to throw out hitchhikers, some of them are very cool and I've seen some people throw out hitchhikers without waiting for an ID. I floated a 32oz cup in my sump where it couldn't fall over and all unknown hitchhikers lived in there for many days with no problems.
Brian
lossman
New member
I highly agree with this. You will spend (probably) quite some time waiting for part 2. You will have plenty of time to observe and enjoy the antics of some of your hitchhikers before you need to remove them. I remember we had a lot of mithrax crabs that everyone kept telling us to get rid of. We enjoyed them so much for a long time. They were highly entertaining, until they decided to start eating our ricordias. But then, you won't be (or should not be) adding any corals etc for a bit. Enjoy the bad guys, they are fun for a while.
If you get a mantis (or two or three) don't dispose of them. There are plenty of people willing to take them off your hands for frags etc. Do get rid of the gorilla crabs asap. Those stupid things pop up in your tank at the timewhen you think you finally got rid of all of them. A year after we put our first rock in the tank, we are still dealing with those spawns from h***!! LOLTo sum it all up, take and post a ton of pictures and enjoy the heck out of the whole process. Don't stress too much and ask questions constantly. This is the best thread for you to be in.
The people here are awesome and will help you through the whole process. And, to top it off, we all have the most wonderful reef rock in the world.....TBS!!!!
drk70
Premium Member
Congrats on the news about Part 1! You will have fun!
1. Tarps or towels are a good idea. No matter how hard you try you will make a mess.
1.A Get help! Even if they are there to just take pictures and make sure they know how to work the camera. If my brother wasn't here when I got Part 2 I would have never got one of the rocks in the tank or I would have had to break it all apart and I didn't want to do that.
2. Get a Brute trashcan and only Brute. They are NSF approved and won't leach anything into the water from the plastic the can is made from. How many 5g buckets do you have? IMO you need at least your tank capacity on hand of fresh SW that is up to temp for water changes. More for swishing the rocks because after swishing you strain for hitchhikers and dump that water.
3. I got some plastic bins that were about 12" tall to put the rocks in before they went in the tank. I put the fresh SW in them so I could swish them and examine them better this way than in the bags. It is also easier to pick them up and down because the rocks usually aren't too light.
4. Smell every rock! and rotate it as you smell it! Anything that doesn't smell right rub it off. You will know if it is dead because there is no mistaking the smell. I made sure I did this and I had virtually not ammonia spike on either part.
5. Remove any know bad hitchhikers. They are harder to get out later and no matter how hard you try you won't get them all. Anything questionable keep them separate or put them in your sump (if you have one) until you know for sure. Dispatch of any gorilla crabs right away! Porcelin crabs are the only crab I would let in my tank. Any other crab you will want out later and it can be a real pain. Since I'm on the crab thing, IMO when you call for part 2 ask them for something else or more snails instead of hermits. You don't need them and they cause more trouble then they are worth. If you must have some only get a couple.
6. HAVE FUN!!!! I remember how exciting it was when my rock came.
6.A Look at the rock well before you put it in to determine what side is the bottom. You don't want to bury any cool stuff on the rock in the sand.
7. Don't be surprised if you want to keep rearranging the rock around the tank because after it goes in you won't be able to see a thing.
8. TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES and the most important part DON"T FORGET TO POST THEM!!!!!!
1. Tarps or towels are a good idea. No matter how hard you try you will make a mess.
1.A Get help! Even if they are there to just take pictures and make sure they know how to work the camera. If my brother wasn't here when I got Part 2 I would have never got one of the rocks in the tank or I would have had to break it all apart and I didn't want to do that.
2. Get a Brute trashcan and only Brute. They are NSF approved and won't leach anything into the water from the plastic the can is made from. How many 5g buckets do you have? IMO you need at least your tank capacity on hand of fresh SW that is up to temp for water changes. More for swishing the rocks because after swishing you strain for hitchhikers and dump that water.
3. I got some plastic bins that were about 12" tall to put the rocks in before they went in the tank. I put the fresh SW in them so I could swish them and examine them better this way than in the bags. It is also easier to pick them up and down because the rocks usually aren't too light.
4. Smell every rock! and rotate it as you smell it! Anything that doesn't smell right rub it off. You will know if it is dead because there is no mistaking the smell. I made sure I did this and I had virtually not ammonia spike on either part.
5. Remove any know bad hitchhikers. They are harder to get out later and no matter how hard you try you won't get them all. Anything questionable keep them separate or put them in your sump (if you have one) until you know for sure. Dispatch of any gorilla crabs right away!
Porcelin crabs are the only crab I would let in my tank. Any other crab you will want out later and it can be a real pain. Since I'm on the crab thing, IMO when you call for part 2 ask them for something else or more snails instead of hermits. You don't need them and they cause more trouble then they are worth. If you must have some only get a couple.6. HAVE FUN!!!! I remember how exciting it was when my rock came.
6.A Look at the rock well before you put it in to determine what side is the bottom. You don't want to bury any cool stuff on the rock in the sand.
7. Don't be surprised if you want to keep rearranging the rock around the tank because after it goes in you won't be able to see a thing.
8. TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES and the most important part DON"T FORGET TO POST THEM!!!!!!
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